Lebron to the Lakers. I am not surprised at all. I love that he is going to the West. This just helps the Sixers get the finals a lot easier!! I am not a massive fane of Lebron but he is the greatest basketball player to ever lace them up. I grew up being just like Mike but Lebron is so much better. Jordan never ran a team like Lebron.

I'm not a huge NBA fan but individually, yeah maybe you've got an argument that Lebron is better . . . maybe. But "running a team"? You're right, Mike never ran a team like Lebron. He was much better. Lebron has lost twice as many finals as he's won. Jordon never lost in the finals. Just pointing that out.

Shore Lion wrote:I'm not a huge NBA fan but individually, yeah maybe you've got an argument that Lebron is better . . . maybe. But "running a team"? You're right, Mike never ran a team like Lebron. He was much better. Lebron has lost twice as many finals as he's won. Jordon never lost in the finals. Just pointing that out.

GO back and take a look at MJ's rosters during his runs and then check out Lebron's. Just saying

Look at the team's Lebron is beating to get to the finals, they are not good. I will also ask two questions and see which player you pick. You're down by 1 with 10 seconds left and have the ball, who do you want Michael or Lebron? You're up 1 with 10 seconds left and need a stop, who do you want? In neither case do I want Lebron, and defensively, it's not even close.

MJ was a much better 1 on 1 player. I think this is why "I want to be like Mike" went viral (TV commercials). I hear what you are saying about being clutch, but the players that Lebron's has to carry have been poop. When Lebron went to Miami he had teams like Jordan had. James won 2 of 3 NBA titles with excellent players.

It's hard to compare players from different eras in certain sports simply because the modern player generally has an advantage physically over the older era player. As an individual player LBJ is the best of all time - he has the skills and more over the speed and strength that would allow him to dominate players of previous eras.

The area that made MJ better is he was more adept at making the players around him better (and I would say the same about Magic, Bird, Isaiah) than LBJ has been. None of those guys had to jump teams and find manufactured rosters, they may have had input but they didn't have their fingerprints all over roster moves and coaching changes in the way LBJ has. And they didn't take their franchises on four years runs and leave them in ruins.

If you are at a playground and MJ in his prime is playing LBJ in his prime lay your money down on LBJ all day long. If you're a GM building a franchise around a guy and you want a decade at the top then take MJ.

sameoldlama wrote:If you are at a playground and MJ in his prime is playing LBJ in his prime lay your money down on LBJ all day long. If you're a GM building a franchise around a guy and you want a decade at the top then take MJ.

We will probably just have to agree to disagree on this one. The gap between the two defensively is a massive one, and that is one of the biggest reasons I don't put Lebron over Jordan as a player.

Jordan's 55 - if the "same guy" is born 25 years later and has all the advancements in training, nutrition and performance development that has been available to LBJ than MJ beats him like a drum. Bill Russell and Kareem are all time greats with great fundamentals - Shaq would dominate both because he would just overpower them and it would compensate for the skill difference.

As much as we all loved the 86 PSU team and their defense Barkley, Gesicki, Hamilton, McSorely would lay 50 points on them. Barkley's rushing may have be measured in miles.

Guys are just bigger, stronger, faster now to the degree that it would compensate for a skill difference against someone from 20-25 years ago.

As for the bigger, faster, stronger argument. I completely agree with that in other sports, but I think basketball is the one sport where it doesn't matter as much. Shaq was a beast because he was a beast. I don't think he was pumping iron and eating crazy healthy like the players are doing today. Kareem would still be skinny in todays game.